Easy To Use Patents Search & Patent Lawyer Directory

At Patents you can conduct a Patent Search, File a Patent Application, find a Patent Attorney, or search available technology through our Patent Exchange. Patents are available using simple keyword or date criteria. If you are looking to hire a patent attorney, you've come to the right place. Protect your idea and hire a patent lawyer.

Crusher, process for preparing and testing materials and apparatus
therefor

Abstract

A crushing apparatus for crushing, blending, homogenizing and transferring
materials is made up of a first pressing element having a first pressing
face with protrusions provided thereon in the form of isolated islands
surrounded by depressed marginal spaces and a second pressing element to
be held in engagement with the first pressing element and having a second
pressing face with protrusions provided thereon in a similar pattern to
the first pressing face. The protrusions of the first and second pressing
faces are disposed in relation to each other such that the protrusions of
the first or the second pressing element will engage with corresponding
depressed marginal spaces on the second or first pressing face of the
respective pressing element.

1. A crusher comprising a first pressing element having a first pressing
face provided thereon with protrusions each in a form of an isolate
island surrounded by depressed marginal spaces, the said protrusions
being disposed not only in first parallel rows but also in second
parallel rows which extend in a direction crossing the first parallel
rows, and a second pressing element to be held in engagement with the
first pressing element when being pressed thereonto, the said second
pressing element having a second pressing face provided thereon with
protrusions which are disposed in a pattern similar to that of the
protrusions of the first pressing element, wherein the protrusions of the
first and the second pressing elements are disposed in such a relation
that the protrusions of the first or the second pressing element will
engage with corresponding depressed marginal spaces on the second or the
first pressing face of the second or the first pressing element,
respectively, so as to permit crushing of the material supplied to the
interspace therebetween.

2. The crusher as claimed in claim 1, wherein the protrusions and the
depressed marginal spaces of the first and the second pressing elements
are formed in such a manner that first parallel ridges interspaced by
first parallel grooves on each pressing element are cut open by second
parallel grooves thereon extending in a direction crossing the first
parallel grooves.

3. The crusher as claimed in claim 1, wherein the first and the second
pressing faces are formed each on a plane, curved, arcuate or cylindrical
surface.

4. The crusher as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein it
comprises a mechanism for moving at least one of the pressing elements so
as to move the protrusions of either of the pressing faces relatively to
the others, while both the pressing elements are pressed onto each other.

5. A crusher comprising a first rotatable pressing element in a form of a
cylinder having a first cylindrical pressing face comprising screw
sections disposed at both end regions of the cylinder and a crushing
section disposed in the central region of the cylinder, wherein each of
the screw sections is furnished with first parallel helical ridges
interspaced by corresponding first parallel helical grooves or with
second parallel helical ridges interspaced by corresponding second
parallel helical grooves, respectively, the said first ridges and grooves
extending on the cylindrical pressing face in reverse turning sense to
the second parallel helical ridges and grooves on the cylindrical
pressing face in the other screw section, and wherein the crushing
section is provided with protrusions of a form of isolate islands
surrounded by depressed marginal spaces, which islands are formed in such
a manner that the parallel helical ridges in extension of those on either
one of the screw sections are cut open by the parallel helical grooves in
extension of those on the other one of the screw sections, and a second
cylindrical pressing element to be held in engagement with the first
pressing element rotatably in counter sense to the rotation of the first
pressing element, which second pressing element has a second pressing
face comprising screw sections and a crushing section and provided with
parallel helical ridges, parallel helical grooves and protrusions
disposed in patterns similar to those of the first pressing face of the
first pressing element, wherein the ridges and protrusions of the first
and the second pressing elements are disposed in such a relation that the
ridges and the protrusions on the first or the second pressing element
will engage with corresponding grooves and depressed marginal spaces on
the second or the first pressing element, respectively, so as to permit
crushing of the material supplied to the interspace therebetween.

6. An apparatus for effecting material preparation, comprising a crusher
as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 5.

7. An apparatus for effecting material preparation, comprising the crusher
as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 5, a material port for supplying the
material to be processed to the crusher and a classifier for classifying
the crushed product from the crusher

8. A process for effecting material preparation comprising the seps of
supplying the material to be processed to the crusher as claimed in any
one of claims 1 to 5 and effecting crushing, mixing or homogenization of
the so-supplied material by the crusher.

9. A process for effecting material preparation comprising the steps of
supplying the material to be processed to the crusher as claimed in any
one of claims 1 to 5, effecting crushing, mixing or homogenization of the
so-supplied material by the crusher and classifying the so-processed
material.

10. A preparation product comprising the product resulting from the
process as claimed in claim 8 or 9.

11. A testing method using the preparation product as claimed in claim 10
as the test sample.

12. A method for producing a processed product using the preparation
product as claimed in claim 10 as the raw material to be processed.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0001] The present invention relates to a crusher and a process and an
apparatus for effecting material preparation using such crusher as well
as to a testing method using the resulting prepared product, more
specifically, the invention relates to a crusher to be used for, such as
crushing, blending, homogenization and transference, of materials; to a
process and an apparatus for material preparation using such crusher for
processing materials by, for example, crushing, blending, homogenization
and transference; to a testing method for, such as analysis, quality
assessment, organoleptic test, observation of recording (in the
following, referred to sometimes merely as a testing) using the product
of the material preparation; and to a process for producing a processed
product.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0002] In realizing testings for examining a material of, for example,
organism, organic matter or chemical product, for the components,
biological or physicochemical properties, particle size, characteristic
reaction of a tissue against the shearing or the crushing or so on of the
material using a product of material preparation obtained by shearing or
crushing the material, it is necessary to prepare the material in
accordance with each specific purpose of examination.

[0003] Conventional apparatuses brought into practical use as sample
preparation apparatuses for realizing homogenization of materials by
shearing or crushing are based on mechanisms for pressing or grinding of
the material and for rotating cutter blade. There have been found, as
commercial apparatuses, a pressing crusher using hydraulic press and a
crusher using pressing drums in which the material is forced to pass
through a narrow interspace between neighboring drums, for those of
pressing the material; a wet type Teflon-homogenizer of Potter LBM suited
for soft materials, a crusher of a type of stone-mill suited for hard
material and a crusher of a type of grinder, for those of grinding the
material; and various rotary mills, for those of rotating cutter blade.

[0004] These conventional apparatuses are suited for crushing specific
materials of constant properties, such as hardness, moisture content and
so on, nevertheless, they are poorly suited as apparatus for shearing,
crushing, blending or homogenization commonly used materials having
hardness, moisture content and so on different from each other, such as
agricultural products and foods. Therefore, a large installation or a
crusher of complex structure may be required for such common objects with
concomitant shortcoming of greater energy consumption. For example, a
pressing crusher, a dry crusher of stone-mill type, a grinding crusher
and a rotary cutter crusher are suitable for crushing materials having
dry tissue, such as seeds of plants, and homogenization can be attained
using a blender of varying type after the crushing, nevertheless, they
are difficult to crush soft materials. A wet homogenizer of Potter LBM
type is suitable for grinding and homogenization soft materials, such as
germination tissue of seed, tissue of root and so on, but is difficult to
crush hard materials.

[0005] The preparation products obtained by these crushing/homogenizing
apparatuses are present in general in a form of mixture or fine powder.
No apparatus has hetherto been brought into the market, which can
separate such selectively classified fraction of each component of the
processed material by a minute classification based on the difference in,
for example, the particle size or the susceptibility to shearing or
crushing, within a single processing work, such as shearing, crushing or
sieving.

[0006] The conventional apparatuses found in the market are adapted for
the cases where the prepared product is nearly the same with respect to
the constituent components, composition and so on, as in a factory or
laboratory in which relatively sufficient time can be spared for the
material preparation. The conventional technique has, however, a
difficulty in that too large a time interval is required for performing
analysis of the material with pretreatment operation and may not be able
to respond to the case of, for example, a wheat harvesting field in which
the harvested lots of crop having different moisture contents and
different qualities are transported by trucks at an interval of about ten
minutes and the quality assessment for each lot by the analysis should be
terminated within such an interval. Moreover, conventional apparatuses
are large in the size and are complex in the mechanism and, therefore,
are not easy in their cleaning after the processing operation, since
disassemblage of the apparatus may be required, so that, in some cases,
not removed rests of crop fragments clinging on the inner wall of the
apparatus may cause pollution and may bring about a false assessment
results of the subsequent lots of the crop.

[0007] As discussed above, conventional technique can not attain
continuous material preparation under processing by shearing/crushing and
classification within a short period of time with simple cleaning
operation for non-uniform materials having different physicochemical
properties with different components and compositions of tissues thereof.
No apparatus has hitherto been developed for solving the above technical
theme.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0008] An object of the present invention is to provide a crusher of
simple construction, which can serve for processing materials easily by
shearing, crushing, blending, homogenizing and so on with lower energy
consumption while suffering scarcely from clogging of the apparatus, even
for materials having different physicochemical properties with different
components and compositions of the tissues thereof.

[0009] Another object of the present invention is to provide a process and
an apparatus for effecting a material preparation using the above
crusher.

[0010] A further object of the present invention is to provide a process
and an apparatus for effecting a material preparation in which the
preparation product prepared as above can be classified.

[0011] A still further object of the present invention is to provide a
testing method which can serve for a testing, such as a high accuracy
analysis, using the preparation product obtained by the above process as
the test sample.

[0012] A still further object of the present invention is to attain a
process for producing processed products, such as foods, industrial
articles and others, from the preparation product obtained by the above
process.

[0013] The present invention consists in the following crusher, process
and apparatus for effecting material preparation and testing method:

[0014] (1) A crusher comprising

[0015] a first pressing element having a first pressing face provided
thereon with protrusions each in a form of an isolate island surrounded
by depressed marginal spaces, the said protrusions being disposed not
only in first parallel rows but also in second parallel rows which extend
in a direction crossing the first parallel rows, and

[0016] a second pressing element to be held in engagement with the first
pressing element when being pressed thereonto, the said second pressing
element having a second pressing face provided thereon with protrusions
which are disposed in a pattern similar to that of the protrusions of the
first pressing element,

[0017] wherein the protrusions of the first and the second pressing
elements are disposed in such a relation test the protrusions of the
first or the second pressing element will engage with corresponding
depressed marginal spaces on the second or the first pressing face of the
second or the first pressing element, respectively, so as to permit
crushing of the material supplied to the interspace therebetween.

[0018] (2) The crusher as defied in the above (1), wherein the protrusions
and the depressed marginal spaces of the first and the second pressing
elements are formed in such a manner that first parallel ridges
interspaced by first parallel grooves on each pressing element are cut
open by second parallel grooves thereon extending in a direction crossing
the first parallel grooves.

[0019] (3) The crusher as defined in the above (1), wherein the first and
the second pressing faces are formed each on a plane, curved, arcuate or
cylindrical surface.

[0020] (4) The crusher as defined in any one of the above (1) to (3),
wherein it comprises a mechanism for moving at least one of the pressing
elements so as to move the protrusions of either of the pressing elements
so as to move the protrusions of either of the pressing faces relatively
to the others, while both the pressing elements are being pressed onto
each other.

[0021] (5) A crusher comprising

[0022] a first rotatable pressing element in a form of a cylinder having a
first cylindrical pressing face comprising screw sections disposed at
both end regions of the cylinder and a crushing section disposed in the
central region of the cylinder, wherein each of the screw sections is
furnished with first parallel helical ridges interspaced by corresponding
first parallel helical grooves or with second parallel helical ridges
interspaced by corresponding second parallel helical grooves,
respectively, the said first ridges and grooves extending on the
cylindrical pressing face in reverse turning sense to the second parallel
helical ridges and grooves on the cylindrical pressing face in the other
screw section, and wherein the crushing section is provided with
protrusions of a form of isolate islands surrounded by depressed marginal
spaces, which islands are formed in such a manner that the parallel
helical ridges in extension of those on either one of the screw sections
are cut open by the parallel helical grooves in extension of those on the
other one of the screw sections, and

[0023] a second cylindrical pressing element to be held in engagement with
the first pressing element rotatably in counter sense to the rotation of
the first pressing element, which second pressing element has a second
pressing face comprising screw sections and a crushing section and
provided with parallel helical ridges, parallel helical grooves and
protrusions disposed in patterns similar to those of the first pressing
face of the first pressing element,

[0024] wherein the ridges and protrusions of the first and the second
pressing elements are disposed in such a relation that the ridges and the
protrusions on the first or the second pressing element will engage with
corresponding grooves and depressed marginal spaces on the second or the
first pressing element, respectively, so as to permit crushing of the
material supplied to the interspace therebetween.

[0025] (6) An apparatus for effecting material preparation, comprising a
crusher as defined in any one of the above (1) to (5).

[0028] a material port for supplying the material to be processed to the
crusher and

[0029] a classifier for classifying the crushed product from the crusher

[0030] (8) A process for effecting material preparation comprising the
steps of

[0031] supplying the material to be processed to the crusher as defined in
any one of the above (1) to (5) and

[0032] effecting crushing, mixing or homogenization of the so-supplied
material by the crusher.

[0033] (9) A process for effecting material preparation comprising the
steps of

[0034] supplying the material to be processed to the crusher as defined in
any one of the above (1) to (5),

[0035] effecting crushing, mixing or homogenization of the so-supplied
material by the crusher and

[0036] classifying the so-processed material.

[0037] (10) A preparation product comprising the product resulting from
the process as defined in the above (8) or (9).

[0038] (11) A testing method using the preparation product as defined in
the above (10) as the test sample.

[0039] (12) A method for producing a processed product using the
preparation product as defined in the above (10) as the raw material to
be processed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0040] FIG. 1 shows the essential part of an embodiment of the crusher
according to the present invention in an explanatory plane view.

[0041] FIG. 2 shows an embodiment of the apparatus for material
preparation according to the present invention in a horizontal sectional
view.

[0042] FIG. 3 is a section in the plane along the line A-A in FIG. 1.

[0043] FIG. 4 shows another embodiment of the apparatus or material
preparation according to the present invention in a horizontal sectional
view.

[0044] FIG. 5 is a section in the plane along the line B-B in FIG. 3.

[0045] FIG. 6 shows a further embodiment of the apparatus for material
preparation according to the present invention in a vertical sectional
view.

[0046] FIG. 7a shows an embodiment of the first pressing element according
to the present invention in a plane view.

[0047] FIG. 7b shows an embodiment of the second pressing element
according to the present invention in a bottom side plane view.

[0048] FIGS. 8a and 8b show each an embodiment of the pressing elements
according to the present invention in the operating state in an
illustrative sectional view.

[0049] FIG. 9 is an infrared spectrophotometric chart of the preparation
product of Example 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0050] In the present invention, the material to be processed is one which
can be processed by the crusher by shearing, crushing, blending,
homogenizing and so on and organic and inorganic materials and composite
materials of them can be dealt with. Concrete examples thereof include
organisms, foods, agricultural products, medicinal products, chemicals
and metals, wherein they may be present in any voluntary form, such as
particles and lumps.

[0051] The crusher according to the present invention is constructed in
such a manner that a first pressing element having a first pressing face
is provided thereon with protrusions each in a form of an isolate island
surrounded by depressed marginal spaces, wherein the said protrusions are
disposed not only in first parallel rows but also in second parallel rows
which extend in a direction crossing the first parallel rows, and a
second pressing element is held in engagement with the first pressing
element when being pressed thereonto, wherein the said second pressing
element having a second pressing face is provided thereon with
protrusions which are disposed in a pattern similar to that of the
protrusions of the first pressing element, wherein the protrusions of the
first and the second pressing elements are disposed in such a relation
that the protrusions on the first or the second pressing element will
engage with corresponding depressed marginal spaces on the second or the
first pressing element, respectively, so as to permit crushing of the
material supplied to the interspace therebetween.

[0052] The protrusions on the first and the second pressing faces may
favorably be formed in such a manner that first parallel ridges
interspaced by first parallel grooves on each pressing element are cut
open by second parallel grooves thereon extending in a direction crossing
the first parallel grooves, so that each protrusion is left on the
pressing faces in a form of isolate island surrounded by depressed
marginal spaces.

[0053] Either one or both of the first and the second pressing faces may
be formed on a plane, curved, arcuate or cylindrical surface. For
example, it is possible that both the first and the second pressing faces
have identical configuration and are found on a plane or cylindrical
surface. It is possible also that the first and the second pressing faces
have each a configuration different from each other, such that one is a
plane face and the other is an arcuate face. For the case where both the
pressing faces are formed on plane surface, the pressing mechanism may
preferably be constructed in a reciprocating piston system and, for the
case where both are formed each on a cylindrical surface, a rotational
pressing mechanism may be preferred. When either one of the pressing
faces is in a plane surface and the other is in a curved, arcuate or
cylindrical surface, a reciprocating or a reciprocally rotatable pressing
mechanism may be preferred.

[0054] It may be preferable to incorporate a mechanism for moving the
protrusions on either one of the pressing faces relative to the
protrusions of the other while the pressing elements are held in a state
pressed onto each other, though such moving mechanism may be dispensed
with in the case of curved, arcuate or cylindrical pressing element
wherein the protrusions are subjected to relative movement to those of
the counter pressing element within the depressed marginal spaces of the
counter pressing element in accordance with the rotational motion of the
pressing element. When one of the paired plane pressing elements is moved
along the plane of the pressing face, the crushing efficiency will be
increased by an interlocking action between the relatively moving
protrusions within the interspace between the pressing elements.

[0055] In the crusher according to the present invention, the material to
be processed is supplied to the interspace between the first and the
second pressing faces held confronting each other so that the protrusions
of one pressing face are positioned in the depressed marginal spaces of
the other pressing face, whereupon the crushing of the material is
effected by pressing the first and the second pressing elements onto each
other. When the material to be processed is hard in the consistency,
crushing of the material may be realized easily by pressing it. When the
material to be processed is soft in the consistency and is easily
extensible, the material will be deformed by pressing and may be embossed
by the protrusions. When, in this case, the protrusions of one pressing
face are impressed on the counter pressing face at close vicinities of
the protrusions of the counter pressing face, the material will be
fragmented in a locally cut state. When the protrusions of one pressing
face are moved relative to the protrusions of the other pressing face
under the state impressed on each other, the material can be crushed in a
partially fragmented state. When at least one of the pressing elements is
subjected to a rotational movement, a similar effect of partial
fragmentation may be realized, wince the protrusions will perform
relative movement within the depressed marginal paces of the counter
pressing element by the rotational motion.

[0056] It is favorable that the depressed marginal spaces around the
protrusions are formed so as to be offset aside the protrusions of the
confronting counter pressure face, namely, at crossing portions of the
first and the second grooves extending in directions crossing each other
on the pressing face. By arranging the protrusions at such portions, the
mass of the material found on the protrusions within the interspace
between the pressing faces will be displaced aside the protrusions to the
depressed marginal spaces surrounding them upon impression of the
confronting pressing elements onto each other to attain crushing of the
material, since the protrusions of one pressing face are in offset to
those of the other pressing face, whereby the crushing can be realized at
a lower friction with scarce heat evolution under lower energy
consumption.

THE BEST MODE FOR EMBODYING THE INVENTION

[0057] Below, the description is directed to a preferred embodiment of the
crusher according to the present invention.

[0058] A preferred embodiment of the crusher according to the present
invention comprises a first rotatable cylindrical pressing element and a
second rotatable cylindrical pressing element and is constructed such
that the first pressing element has a first cylindrical pressing face
comprising screw sections disposed at both end regions of the cylinder
and a crushing section disposed in the central region of the cylinder,
wherein each of the screw sections is furnished with first parallel
helical ridges interspaced by corresponding first parallel helical
grooves or with second parallel helical ridges interspaced by
corresponding second parallel helical grooves, respectively, the said
first and second ridges and grooves extending each along a helix on the
cylinder in reverse turning sense to the corresponding helix of each of
the corresponding parallel helical ridges and grooves on the other screw
section, respectively, in a mirror-symmetrical relation, and wherein the
crushing section is provided with protrusions of a form of isolate
islands surrounded by depressed marginal spaces, which islands are formed
in such a manner that the parallel helical ridges in extension of those
on either one of the screw sections are cut open by the parallel helical
grooves in extension of those on the other one of the screw sections, and
the second pressing element is held in engagement with the first pressing
element rotatably in counter sense to the rotation of the first pressing
element, which second pressing element has a second pressing face
comprising screw sections and a crushing section and provided with
parallel helical ridges, parallel helical grooves and protrusions
disposed in patterns similar to those of the first pressing face of the
first pressing element, wherein the first and the second pressing
elements are held in engagement with each other in such a relation that
the ridges and the protrusions on the first or the second pressing
element will engage with corresponding grooves and the depressed
marginals paces on the second or the first pressing element,
respectively, so as to permit crushing of the material guided to the
crushing section.

[0059] Such a crusher has a construction similar to a coupled pair of
double helical gears disposed side by side under engagement of their
double helical teeth with each other, wherein each double helical gear,
to be served as one of the pressing elements, has a structure in which
the mirror-symmetrical halves of helical gear with helical teeth of
reverse helical turning sense are joined in axial abutment, with the
helical grooves interspacing the teeth for both halves in the adjoining
central portion being extended further to leave cut-open protrusions. In
both end portions of the double helical gear, the helical teeth in
reverse helical turning sense are left each in a form of a screw to build
up a first and a second screw sections, respectively, in which the screw
thread is held gearing with the corresponding helical grooves
interspacing the teeth of the coupled counter double helical gear, so
that the screw sections can serve for transmitting tortional driving
motion and for guiding the material to be processed towards the central
portion of the double helical gear but scarcely serve for crushing the
material. In the central portion of the double helical gear, the parallel
helical ridges of the teeth in extension of those on either one of the
screw sections are cut open by the parallel helical grooves between the
teeth in extension of those on the other one of the screw sections to
leave cut-open protrusions of a form of isolate square conical or
truncated square conical islands surrounded by depressed marginal spaces.
At the positions in the central portion at which the helical ridges of
the teeth of one helical gear are intersected by the parallel helical
grooves between the teeth of the other helical gear, protrusions are left
from the ridges by being cut open by the grooves in a form surrounded by
depressed marginal spaces formed by the grooves. The material to be
processed is held in this central portion (referred to in the following
as cruching section) within these depressed marginal spaces so as to be
subjected to the processing actions, such as shearing, crushing,
blending, homogenization and transference.

[0060] In the above-described crusher, the rotary shafts are supported
rotatably on bearings in the state in which the first and the second
pressing elements are held under engagement with each other. The rotary
shaft of one of the pressing elements, for example, the first pressing
element, is coupled with a driving shaft connected to a driving sourse
(electric motor). By driving the driving shaft, the driving power is
transmitted via the driving pressing element (the first pressing element)
to the driven pressing element (the first pressing element) to the driven
pressing element (the second pressing element) to cause them to rotate in
counter rotational sense, since the screw threads, i.e. the ridges of the
teeth, of one pressing element in the screw sections are held gearing
with the corresponding grooves of the other pressing element therein.
When the material to be processed is supplied to the rotating crusher via
a material supply port, the material may not substantially migrate across
the ridges of the screws due to interseption by the gearing of the ridges
with the grooves of the counter element but is guided towards the central
section, i.e. crushing section, of the pressing elements by the conveying
action by the rotated screws. In the crushing section, the material
supplied is held in the depressed marginal spaces around the protrusions
and is subjected to actions of shearing and rotation by the movement of
the protrusions intruding and receding into and out of the depressed
marginal spaces of the counter element caused by the rotation of the
rotary shafts. During rotation of the elements, the protrusions perform
an angular motion within the depressed marginal space, whereby the
material found therein is subjected to actions of pressing, shearing
friction and crushing so that it is processed by shearing, crushing and
blending to attain homogenization, while being transferred passing
through the interspace between the first and the second pressing
elements.

[0061] The sectional configuration of the ridges or screw threads of the
pressing elements may favorably be such that sharp knife edge is formed
at the periphery thereof in order to make possible to process materials
of viscoelastic nature by shearing, as in the case of cutter blade. For
easily fragmented materials, however, it is possible that angular corner
is formed on the ridges, as in commonly used roll crusher. It is
favorable that the pressing elements are rotatable in such a condition of
engagement that the ridge will be brought into contact with the face of
the confronting groove of the counter element at least at one point,
preferably at a position of its peripheral edge, during one full turn of
revolution, whereby the apparatus can be constructed so that the material
may not migrate across the ridges in the screw sections but is guided
towards the crushing section, where it is sheared and crushed before
passing through the interspace between the pressing elements. In the case
of a rough crushing, it is of course possible to construct the apparatus
so that the pressing elements are arranged so as to leave a free gap
between the pressing elements, wherein it is possible to provide a
driving power transmitting means between the rotary shafts of the
pressing elements.

[0062] The pressing elements may be made of a hard material, such as a
super hard alloy or a ceramic, while plastic resins may be used for the
pressing elements for processing soft materials. Stainless steels may
favorably be used for metal pressing elements, wherein it is preferable
to use a ferromagnetic steel, such as SUS 403, for the material of the
pressing element and to provide a magnet, such as a rare earth metal
magnet, within a product chamber for the material preparation product, in
order to remove split or cracked fragments of the metal to prevent
contamination of the product by such metal fragments. While the size of
the pressing elements may be determined in accordance with each specific
material to be processed and with the contemplated purpose, the pressing
element may favorably be designed for producing a preparation product of,
for example, wheat for use as a testing sample, in such a manner that it
has a tip diameter, namely, the diameter of the tip circle of the helical
ridges of the pressing element, in the range from 10 to 40 mm, preferably
from 20 to 30 mm, and a module in the range from 1 to 1.5 mm. The helical
angle of the helical ridge, namely, the angle of inclination of a tangent
of the helix against a plane vertical to the helix axis, may favorably be
in the range from 15.degree. to 60.degree., preferably from 15.degree. to
30.degree., for guiding the material effectively. The cylindrical
pressing elements may be arranged not only in a pair but also in a
combination of three or more elements under engagement with each other.
While the crusher may be installed on a single stage, it may be arranged
on a plurality of stages for repeating the shearing, crushing, blending
or homogenization on the plural stages. The crusher may be operated in a
gaseous medium, such as air, or in a liquid medium. In the case of the
former, it is favorable that the shaft of the cylindrical rotatable
pressing element may be designed as a hollow shaft to circulate
therethrough a coolant for effecting cooling of the elements. In the case
of the latter, an agitational action due to convection may also be
imparted to the material to be processed. The number of revolution of the
pressing elements may be chosen depending on, for example, the size
thereof, such specific sort of the material to be processed and each
specific purpose of the material preparation, while a preferable
embodiment of, for example, preparation of a test sample for wheat may
employ a revolution rate in the range from 30 to 600 r.p.m, preferably
from 50 to 200 r.p.m.

[0063] The apparatus for the material preparation according to the present
invention using a crusher as described above may be furnished with a
material supply passage at a portion above or beside the crusher for
supplying the material to be processed to the apparatus. The supply
passage may be disposed above the crushing section of the pressing
elements of the horizontally disposed crusher, while it may also be
arranged adjacent to one screw section, to thereby effect guiding of the
material in this screw section towards the crushing section where the
material is subjected to the action of shearing, crushing, blending,
homogenization or the like, whereby the processed preparation product is
obtained.

[0064] The crusher is disposed in a horizontal posture and the material to
be processed is supplied thereto by the gravity in dry process while
rotating the pressing elements in reverse turn to each other so as to
draw the material into the interspace between them, namely, downwards
from above on the confronting sides thereof. In a wet process in, for
example, aqueous medium, repetition of swinging rotations of the pressing
elements in reverse sense turnings to each other may cause increase in
the efficiency of shearing, crushing or homogenization of the material
due to occurrence of complex convections of the liquid medium in
up-and-down directions.

[0065] Materials exhibiting higher tenacities, such as glutinous wheat and
plastic resins, may be processed at low temperature by a concomitant use
of, for example, liquid air, ice or granular dry ice, wherein the
shearing can be attained effectively due to the solidification of such
tenacious materials. When separation or classification of ingredients of
the material, such as powdery endosperm and bran of wheat, powdery
ingredients of iron, aluminum and plastic resin of a composite material
and so on, in a classifier based on the difference of properties, such as
volume and specific weight, the efficiency of separation may be increased
by operating the crusher while holding the material preparation apparatus
in an inclined posture with its side of floating material exit port being
held in a lower level, whereby the lighter ingredients, such as the bran
of wheat or powdery aluminum and resin of the composite material, may be
permitted to discharge out of the apparatus via the floating material
exit port by floating up on the moving particle layer and flooding over a
sifting bank disposed at the end of the side of the exit port of the
classifier arranged in a form encasing the crusher to thereby cause them
to be guided to the exit port.

[0066] A similar separation effect may be attained by designing the
classifier to have a great inner diameter towards the floating material
exit port side. Here, the material to be processed or the rest of the
preparation product is guided by the helical ridges on the pressing faces
in the screw sections of the pressing elements towards the central
section (crushing section), where it is processed into disintegrated
product which is guided into the surrounding classifier having greater
inner diameter towards the exit port side, wherein the lighter
ingredients travel over a more longer path due to the gradually
increasing passage gap, so that the lighter ingredients, such as bran in
the case of sifting of crushed wheat, will become flooding over the
shifting bank and can be removed. The not sifted course rests will be
returned to the material supply port and, then, to the crushing section
by a principle similar to rotating water wheel, whereby they are
subjected to repeated processings by shearing and crushing.

[0067] By the apparatus for effecting material preparation according to
the present invention, the material to be processed is subjected to the
actions of shearing and crushing in the crushing section of the crusher
having a structure similar to double helical gear by being guided by the
helical ridges thereof from the screw sections disposed on both end
portions of each of the pressing elements held in engagement with each
other towards the central crushing section thereof, where it is subjected
to the actions of shearing and crushing while preventing intrusion of the
finely disintegrated preparation product into the gap between the helical
ridges and the inside face of a shield for the pressing elements in the
screw section to cause clogging of the crusher, whereby the throughput of
the crusher can be increased while preventing pollution of the
preparation product and, in addition, material preparation in a quite
minute amount of, for example, several tens milligrams of the material
can be realized. Moreover, the crusher having cylindrical pressing
elements, which are held under engagement with each other in such a
relationship that the protrusions of either one of the pressing elements
will engage with corresponding depressed marginal spaces on the pressing
face of either one of the pressing elements so as to permit crushing of
the material supplied to the interspace therebetween, has a broad area of
engagement of the helical ridges with each other, so that occurrence of
displacement in the engagement due to dislocational counteraction can be
prevented even upon shearing or crushing of a hard material, such as dry
seed, whereby processing of large amount of material can be realized at a
high speed. A material revealing a high tenacity of glutinosity, such as
glutinous rice or the like, can be sheared or crushed efficiently by the
crusher by designing the helical ridges in the screw sections to have
lower thickness with sharp tip in order to increase the shearing strength
and in order to reduce simultaneously the pressing stress to thereby
prevent thermal metamorphic change by gelatinization of the starch by the
action of pressure into glutinous stats.

[0068] The preparation product can be served as such for practical use,
while it permissible to install a classifier, such as sieve, when
classification is required. For separating only two components, such as
bran and powder for wheat, use of one single sieve screen may be enough,
while a plurality of sieve units with different screen meshes are used
for classifying into three or more fractions of different particle sizes.
The sieve may be designed in a cylindrical form, in order to arrange one
or more such sieves radially outside the crusher and to effect sifting of
material by rotating them by making use of the rotational driving means
of the crusher to realize the sifting or classification of the material
continuously. On using a plurality of sifting units with different screen
meshes, it is permissible to dispose them either in a row in a radial
direction or side by side on a cylindrical plane surrounding the crusher
with the sieve retention face inwards. In the case of the latter, a
continuous classification can be attained by an arrangement of closure
means. By the use of a plurality of sifting units with different screen
meshes, the sheared and crushed product can be classified in accordance
with the particle size into fractions with different average particle
sizes. When a plurality of sifting units are disposed side by side on a
cylindrical plane and the so-disposed sifting arrangement is caused to
rotate, the sifting rests retained on each screen of the sifting units
are returned to the crusher to subject to the shearing and crushing
actions repeatedly by a principle similar to rotating water wheel,
whereby a large amount of preparation product can be produced
efficiently. By actuating the closure means, which are disposed each so
as to cover each of the inside openings of the sifting units arranged on
a cylindrical surface surrounding the crusher, to open or close
selectively in a controlled manner, the sifting operation of each sifting
unit can be realized in a temporarily shifted phase, whereby, for
example, particulate fraction composed mainly of a plant tissue subject
to easy pulverization into fine powder can be separated from those which
can only be pulverized after a prolonged and repeated processing by
shearing and crushing.

[0069] By using a classifier in which cylindrical sifting units are
arranged so as to align in one or more radial rows each in the order of
fineness of the screen mesh from outside to inside, an efficient
classification of sheared and crushed powdery product can be realized on
a wider sifting area. A classifier having sifting units arranged in a
plurality of radial rows surrounding the crusher can produce classified
products having average particle sizes ranging from the finest one from
the outermost sifting unit to the coarsest one from the innermost sifting
unit.

[0070] The preparation product obtained in the manner as above can be
served for practical uses wither as obtained or in a form of composite
blend with other ingredient(s) for, for example, foods, medicinal
products, chemical products and products for mining and industrial
applications. For example, in the case of milling industry, the
preparation product obtained as above can be used as such for dietary and
other applications. The classified preparation products may be used
individually in accordance with the particle size or be used integrally
for specific purpose. It is possible to produce products for, for
example, nutrient, medicinal, chemical and industrial applications, using
the preparation products as the raw materials.

[0071] The testing method according to the present invention is applicable
to testing for analysis and so on by using the preparation product
obtained as above for the testing sample.

[0072] The materials to be subjected to the testing method according to
the present invention are tested for, for example, quality assessment,
analysis and observation. Such materials include organisms, organic
materials and chemical substances. Concrete examples encompass starch of
seeds, tissues or animals (including human) and plants, minerals and
metals.

[0073] The testing method in quality assessment, analysis or observation
using such a preparation product can be applied for every technique for
performing analysis, observation, determination, recording and so on,
which uses the preparation product obtained by shearing and crushing the
material to be processed as obtained, a pelletized product obtained by
compacting the preparation product or a homogenate obtained by subjecting
the material to be processed to actions of shearing and crushing in a
liquid medium to disperse and solubilize it. It includes, for example,
analysis techniques employing arithmometry, such as spectroanalyses using
electromagnetic waves (including those using visual rays, IR rays, UV
rays, Raman rays, fluorescent rays and fluorescent X-rays and
color-difference meter), mass-spectroanalyses and material property
tests; chemical analyses using liquid chromatography and dry chemistry;
biological tests; and testing methods by means of observation,
determination and recording of image, such as by television, image
analysis devices, photography and visual assessments.

[0074] Using a test sample obtained by crushing, blending or homogenizing
efficiently as the preparation product obtained as above, high accuracy
testings can be realized.

[0075] Using the preparation product obtained especially after classifying
on the classifier as the test sample, assessments of pharmacological and
physicochemical properties, analysis and so on of a food product,
medicinal product or so on can be realized at a high accuracy, since the
processed product containing, for example, a plant tissue, obtained under
an accurate classification in the classifier retains original
physicochemical properties inherited from the original plant tissue. When
the technique according to the present invention is applied to production
of processed marine products or the like, hard tissues, such as those in
fish head etc., rich in eisosapentaenoic acid, collagen and so on, can be
rendered edible so that an increase in the nutrient value can be
attained.

[0076] As described above, the crusher according to the present invention
has a simple construction and can be utilized as a machine operative in
atmosphric condition or in a liquid medium easily for shearing, crushing,
blending, homogenization and so on of materials to be processed, at a low
energy consumption without suffering from clogging of the crusher, even
for materials having components, compositions and physicochemical
properties different from each other.

[0077] By the process and the apparatus for effecting material preparation
according to the present invention, even materials having moisture
contents and characteristic properties different from each other can be
processed easily and efficiently by crushing, blending and homogenization
using the crusher.

[0078] The apparatus for effecting material preparation comprising
cylindrical pressing elements according to the present invention permits
miniaturization of the apparatus, reduction of energy consumption,
prevention of heat evolution and increase in the speed of material
preparation, since the apparatus is designed so that the material to be
processed is guided by the pressing elements having screw sections acting
in a manner of screw conveyer towards the central crushing section, where
it is processed by shearing, crushing, blending and homogenization
together with re-processing of the processing residues in one single
process step without having any influence by the hardness, components,
composition and so on of the material to be processed. Due to the
characteristic feature in that the material is processed by being guided
to the central crushing section, the apparatus does not suffer from
contamination of the preparation product caused from clogging of the
apparatus by the processed pulverous product due to accumulation thereof
in the gap between the crusher and the support block, so that increase in
the purity of the preparation product can be attained together with
permission of a small amount of material to be processed.

[0079] When a classifier comprising a plurality of sifting units having
different sifting screen meshes and provided with closure means is
employed, classified fractions as the final products can be obtained by
performing the classification based on the difference in, for example,
the easiness of crushing, particle size or so on. The accuracy in the
testing, such as spectroanalysis and biochemical analysis, can therefore
be increased, which may be effective for producing processed products in
which such a characteristic feature is adopted.

[0080] By the testing method according to the present invention, various
tests can be performed at a high accuracy using each test sample which is
produced easily and efficiently even for materials having components,
compositions and characteristic properties different from each other.

[0081] By the method for producing a processed product according to the
present invention, processed products of voluntary forms and
consistencies including that in a state of being partly cut and crushed,
that in a completely crushed state and composite products with other
constituent material(s) can be produced.

[0082] Below, the present invention will further be described by way of
modes of embodiment.

[0083] An embodiment of the crusher according to the present invention is
shown in FIG. 1 in an explanatory plane view. The crusher 1 has a
construction in which a first cylindrical pressing element 1a and a
second cylindrical pressing element 1b are held in engagement with each
other, wherein the state of engagement of the two elements is illustrated
somewhat appart from each other for the sake of easy understanding (the
same applies to FIGS. 2 and 4). The first and the second pressing
elements 1a and 1b are arranged in such a construction that the first
rotatable pressing element 1a in a form of a cylinder has a first
cylindrical pressing face 6a comprising screw sections 7a and 7b disposed
at both end regions of the cylinder and a crushing section 7c disposed in
the central region of the cylinder, wherein each of the screw sections
7a, 7b is furnished with first parallel helical ridges 2a interspaced by
corresponding second parallel helical grooves 5a, respectively, the said
first ridges 2a and grooves 4a in the first screw section 7a extending
each along a helix on the cylinder in reverse turning sense to each
corresponding helix of corresponding second parallel helical ridges 3a
and grooves 5a in the second screw section 7b, respectively, in a mirror
symmetrical relation, and wherein the pressing faces 6a, 6b in the
crushing section 7c are provided each with protrusions 8a or 8b of a form
of isolate islands surrounded by depressed marginal spaces 9a or 9b,
which islands are formed in such a manner that the parallel helical
ridges (2a, 2b, 3a, 3b) in extension of those on either one of the screw
sections (7a, 7b) are cut open by the parallel helical grooves (4a, 4b,
5a, 5b) in extension of those on the other one of the screw sections. The
second cylindrical pressing element 1b is held under engagement with the
first pressing element 1a rotatably in counter sense to the rotation of
the first pressing element 1a, which second pressing element 1b has a
second pressing face 6b comprising screw sections 7a, 7b and a crushing
section 7c and provided with parallel ridges (2b, 3b) parallel grooves
(4b, 5b) and protrusions (8b) disposed in patterns similar to those on
the first pressing element 1a, wherein the first and the second pressing
elements are held in engagement with each other in such a relation that
the ridges (2a, 3a or 2b, 3b) and the protrusions (8a or 8b) of the first
or the second pressing element (1a or 1b) will engage with corresponding
grooves (4b, 5b or 4a, 5a) and the depressed marginal spaces (9b or 9a)
on the second or the first pressing element (1b or 1a), respectively, so
as to permit crushing of the material guided to the crushing section 7c.

[0084] Such a crusher 1 has a construction similar to a coupled pair of
double helical gears disposed side by side under engagement of their
double helical teeth with each other, wherein each double helical gear,
to be served as one of the pressing elements, has a structure in which
two mirror-symmetrical halves of helical gear with helical teeth of
reverse helical turning sense are joined in axial abutment, with the
helical grooves interspacing the teeth for both halves in the adjoining
central portions being extended further to leave cut-open protrusions. In
both end portions of the double helical gear, the helical teeth in
reverse helical turning sense are left each in a form of a screw to build
up a first and a second screw sections, respectively, in which the screw
thread is held gearing with the corresponding helical grooves
interspacing the teeth of the coupled counter double helical gear, so
that the screw sections can serve for transmitting tortional driving
motion and for guiding the material to be processed towards the central
portion of the double helical gear but scarcely serve for crushing the
material. In the crushing section 7c, the first and the second parallel
helical ridges (2a, 2b, 3a, 3b) in extension of those on either one of
the screw sections (7a or 7b) are cut open by the parallel helical
grooves (5a, 5b, 4a, 4b) in extension of those on the other one of the
screw sections (7b or 7a) to leave cut-open protrusions (8a, 8b) of a
form of isolate square conical or truncated square conical islands
surrounded by depressed marginal spaces (9b or 9a). At the positions in
the crushing section at which the helical ridges (2a, 2b or 3a, 3b) of
one pressing element (1a or 1b), are intersected by the parallel helical
grooves (5a, 5b or 4a, 4b) of the other pressing element (1b or 1a),
protrusions (8a or 8b) are left from the ridges (2a, 2b or 3a, 3b) by
being cut open by the grooves in a form surrounded by depressed marginal
spaces (9a, 9b) formed by the grooves in such a relation that the
protrusions (8a or 8b) intrude each into a part of the depressed marginal
spaces of the counter pressing element, namely, at the position where the
first and the second grooves are crossing. The material to be processed
is held in this crushing section within these depressed marginal spaces
(9a, 9b) so as to be subjected to the processing actions of shearing,
crushing, blending, homogenization and transference.

[0085] In the above-described crusher 1, the rotary shafts 10a and 10b are
supported rotatably on bearings in the state in which the first and the
second pressing elements 1a and 1b are held under engagement with each
other. The rotary shaft (10a or 10b) of one of the pressing elements, for
example, the first pressing element 1a, is used as the driving shaft
connected to a driving sourse M (electric motor). By driving the driving
shaft, the driving power is transmitted via the driving pressing element
(the first pressing element 1a) to the driven pressing element (the
second pressing element 1b) to cause them to rotate in counter rotational
sense, as shown by the arrows a and b, since the screw threads, i.e. the
ridges (2a, 3a or 2b, 3b) of one pressing element (1a or 1b) are held
gearing with the corresponding grooves (4b, 5b or 4a, 5a) of the other
pressing element (1b or 1a) therein. When the material to be processed is
supplied to the rotating crusher 1 via a material supply passage 19 (FIG.
2), the material may not substantially migrate across the ridges (2a, 3a,
2b, 3b) on the pressing elements (1a, 1b) due to interseption by the
gearing of these ridges with corresponding grooves (4b, 5b or 4a, 5a) of
the counter element but is guided along the ridges towards the crushing
section 7c, as shown by the arrows c and d, by the conveying action by
the rotated parallel helical ridges. In the crushing section 7c, the
material supplied is held in the depressed marginal spaces 9a, 9b around
the protrusions 8a, 8b and is subjected to actions of shearing and
rotation by the movement of the protrusions 8a, 8b intruding and
receiving into and out of the depressed marginal spaces 9b, 9a of the
counter element caused by the rotation of the rotary shafts 10a, 10b.
During rotation of the elements 1a, 1b, the protrusions 8a, 8b perform an
angular motion within the depressed marginal space 9b, 9a, whereby the
material found therein is subjected to actions of pressing, shearing
friction and crushing so that it is processed by shearing, crushing and
blending to attain homogenization, while being transferred passing
through the interspace between the first and the second pressing elements
1a and 1b.

[0086] An embodiment of the apparatus for material preparation according
to the present invention is shown in FIG. 2 in a horizontal sectional
view with its section along the line A-A being shown in FIG. 3. The
apparatus for material preparation 11 comprises a crusher 1 comprising a
first and a second pressing elements 1a and 1b both mounted rotatably on
support elements 13 and 14 under rotatable bearing support of the rotary
shafts 10a and 10b by bearings 15a and 15b disposed at both ends of a
shield member 12 shielding the pressing elements. The rotary shaft 10a is
coupled at its and on the side of the support element 13 with a driving
shaft 17 extending from an electric motor M under intermediation by a
reduction gear 16 by means of a coupling 18. A material supply passage 19
is disposed at an upper position of the support element 13 so as to
communicate with a material port 20 disposed at an upper position of the
crusher 1. The driving shaft 10a carries a classifier 21 by being coupled
therewith at a portion of its end on the side of the support element 14
by means for fixing members 22 so as to hold the classifier in rotation
together with the pressing element 1a. The classifier is constructed in
such a manner that a plurality of sifting units 28, each having a screen
25 of varying screen mesh fixed by fixing members 24 on a frame 23 of a
form of cage, a collector pan 26 and a closure means 27, are arranged
side by side on a circumferential cylindrical plane surrounding the
driving shaft 10a. An enclosure jacket 35 is provided so as to cover the
classifier 21 over its circumference under fixation by fixing members 36,
37 is a floating material exit port and 38 denotes scrapers.

[0087] When the driving device M is actuated to rotate the driving shaft
17 of the apparatus for material preparation described above, the
rotational torque is transmitted to the pressing elements 1a and 1b held
in engagement with each other to cause them to rotate in counter
rotational sense, as explained above with reference to FIG. 1. On
supplying the material 31 to be processed to the apparatus via the
material supply passage 19, the material 31 enters first the material
port 20, from which it is guided by the ridges 2a and 2b of the pressing
elements in their screw section 7a towards the crushing section 7c due to
rotation of the pressing elements 1a and 1b. Therefore, no clogging of
the apparatus occurs due to stuffing of the interspace between the shield
element 12 and the pressing elements 1a, 1b with the material 31 so that
there is no fear of interuption and trouble of operation. The material 31
reached the portion above the crushing section 7c will be drawn into the
interspace between the pressing elements 1a and 1b by the rotating of the
protrusions 8a and 8b to thereby be subjected to the processing actions
by shearing, crushing, blending, homogenization and so on, before it is
transferred to a product chamber 29 as the crushed crude product 32.

[0088] The classifier 21 is held in rotation in synchronism with the
rotation of the pressing element 1a to effect sifting of the crushed
crude product 32 in the product chamber 29 to obtain classified product
33. When a plurality of sifting units having different screen meshes are
used, classification of the crude product into corresponding plural
classified products of corresponding average particle sizes can be
attained by operating the closure means 27 on the sifting units 28 to let
open in the sequence corresponding to the order of mesh size of the
sifting screen 25. Such classified preparation products may be used, for
example, for assessing the characteristic properties in accordance with
the particle size. In the case of flour milling of a cereal by sifting
the crushed crude product with a single screen mesh size to separate the
powdered product from the refuse (such as bran of wheat), the above
apparatus may be employed with all the closure means 27 held open.

[0089] FIG. 4 shows another embodiment of the apparatus for material
preparation in a horizontal sectional view, wherein the section along the
line B-B thereof is given in FIG. 5. In this embodiment, a classifier 21
is employed, wherein a plurality of sifting units 28a, 28b and 28c are
installed by being fixed onto the rotary shaft 10a by fixing member 22 so
as to build up an integrated arrangement of such a construction, that
screens 25a, 25b and 25c of different mesh sizes are mounted each on a
frame 23a, 23b or 23c of a form of cage one over another in the order of
mesh size from largest outermost one to the smallest innermost one at an
interval so as to align each corresponding screen on the same coaxial
cylindrical face. Surrounding the classifier 21, an enclosure jacket 35
is provided by being fixed onto the support element 13 by fixing members
36. Other constructions are substantially the same as in those shown in
FIGS. 2 and 3.

[0090] In the apparatus described above, the material preparation is
performed in a similar manner as in the apparatus shown in FIGS. 2 and 3.
The resulting preparation product 32 is taken out of the apparatus as
classified fractions by being guided from the crushed crude product
chamber 29 to the rotating sifting units 28 to effect sifting by the
sifting screens 25a, 25b and 25c arranged in the successively decreasing
order of screen mesh size.

[0091] FIG. 6 shows a still further embodiment of the apparatus for
material preparation according to the present invention, wherein the
first pressing element thereof is shown in FIG. 7(a) in a bottom side
plane view and the second pressing element thereof is shown in FIG. 7(b).
The manner of engagement of the first and the second pressing elements of
an embodiment and another embodiment is shown in FIGS. 8(a) and 8(b),
respectively, both in a vertical sectional view.

[0092] In the embodiments of FIGS. 6 to 8, the first and the second
pressing elements 1a and 1b constructing the crusher 1 are designed each
in a flat board having a first and a second pressing faces 6a and 6b on
which protrusions 8a and 8b each in a form of isolate island surrounded
by depressed marginal spaces 9a and 9b are arranged in parallel rows
extending in directions crossing each other. The pressing faces 6a and 6b
are in a form, in which the pressing faces 6a and 6b of the pressing
elements in the crushing section 7c thereof shown in FIG. 1 are developed
on a plane, and have protrusions 8a and 8b surrounded by depressed
marginal spaces 9a and 9b formed in such a manner that the assumed first
and the second parallel ridges 2a, 3a and 2b, 3b shown by the dotted
lines on FIG. 7 are cut open by the assumed first and the second parallel
grooves 4a, 5a and 4b, 5b extending in a direction crossing the ridges.
Each of the protrusions 8a and 8b is arranged so that it protrude into a
part of the depressed marginal space on the counter pressing face,
namely, into the depressed marginal space of the counter pressing face at
the crossing position of the grooves. The position of the protrusion in
this state is shown in FIGS. 7(a) and 7(b) by 8aa and 8bb, respectively.

[0093] In the apparatus for material preparation 11, the first pressing
element 1a is assembled in such a manner that it can be pressed with the
downwardly directed first pressing face 6a onto the second pressing
element 1b by means of the action of a piston rod 42 operated by a
hydraulic cylinder 41. The second pressing element 1b is arranged movably
by being supported on rollers 43 with the pressing face 6b thereof on the
upper side along the pressing face by the action of a piston rod 45
extending from the hydraulic cylinder 44 upon actuation thereof. 46 is a
belt conveyer for supplying the material to be processed, 47 is a belt
conveyer for taking out the processed product and 48 is a scraper.

[0094] For effecting crushing and producing processed product using the
apparatus as given above, the material to be processed is supplied to the
apparatus by means of the belt conveyer 46 in the state as shown in FIG.
6 so as to distribute the material over the second pressing element 1b.
In the case of processing a material of a form of sheet, it is enough to
cause the belt conveyer 46 to stop after the material is supplied. In the
case of processing a material in a form of particles or the like,
however, the scraper 48 is caused to move along the pressing face 6b to
distribute the material uniformly over the pressing element 1b. In this
state, the piston rod 42 is caused to extend down to cause the first
pressing element to descend in order to press it onto the material,
whereby the protrusions 8a, 8b are caused to be intruded into the
depressed marginal spaces 9a, 9b to thereby crush the material. In the
case of a material of soft and easily extendable consistency, it may be
formed into an embossed form. When the second pressing element 1b is
moved towards the direction indicated by the arrow e by protruding the
piston rod 45, the material is crushed in a state partially cut by the
knife edges 51 and 52 formed on one side of the protrusions 8a and 8b.
The first pressing element 1a is then caused to ascend and the resulting
preparation product is taken out by the belt conveyer. If the material is
broken into fragments, these fragments can be collected by moving the
scraper 48 in the direction of the arrow e and can be taken out by the
belt conveyer 47.

[0095] In the case of a material to be processed which is easily crushed,
pressing elements having protrusions 8a and 8b each exhibiting similar
foreside and rearside faces, as shown in FIG. 8(b) may be employed. While
the pressing elements 1a and 1b in the embodiments given above are
arranged in a horizontal posture, they may be disposed in other postures.
Crushing may be realized by pressing the pressing elements onto each
other by a reciprocal or a reciprocally rotating motion, even if one of
them (1a) is designed in a form of a cylinder or in an arcuate form and
the other one is designed in a form of plate.

EXAMPLES

[0096] Below, the present invention will be described by way of Examples.

Example 1

[0097] Using the apparatus for material preparation shown in FIG. 2 (with
a sifting screen of 100 mesh), AYAHIKARI, a selected wheat, was processed
by crushing. 50 grams of this wheat were supplied to the crusher 1 via
the material port 20 and the crushing was effected for one minute at a
rate of revolution of the pressing elements 1a and 1b of 100 r.p.m.,
whereby a wheat flour accumulated in the product chamber 29 was obtained
by performing classification of the crushed crude product of wheat by the
sifting screen 25 of the classifier 21.

[0099] As is clear from FIG. 9, absorption peaks for carbohydrate (COC),
or protein (CONH) and for fatty substance (CO) are recognized at
corresponding wave numbers (cm.sup.-1), so that the chemical composition
of the material can be realized in a easy and convenient manner by
detecting the ratio of the absorbancies for the protein, fatty substance
and so on relative to that for the carbohydrate.